Sir Bradley Wiggins has admitted that if cycling was a computer game he would have completed it by now, but he insisted he was as hungry as ever to win a fifth Olympic gold this summer.

Wiggins is attempting to win a British-record eighth Olympic medal in Rio, having collected four gold, one silver and two bronze from his four previous Games. A medal of any colour in August would take the 35-year-old above Sir Chris Hoy, who has six golds and one silver, in the cumulative list.

As well as his Olympic success, Wiggins has enjoyed a glittering career in all areas of the sport. He has eight world titles – including the 2014 road time-trial title, plus seven on the track – four silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and is the current UCI Hour record holder. He also won the Tour de France in 2012, becoming the first ever British rider to achieve the feat.

Wiggins returned to the Lee Valley VeloPark on Tuesday to launch a new 46-mile sportive around London aimed at helping younger riders enjoy cycling and when asked about his own remaining ambitions in racing, the veteran was clear.

Bradley Wiggins's world hour record attempt

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“The hour record had been lingering. I had to do it last summer or not do it at all so I was fortunate to do that here in London. There’s not much left. If cycling was a video game I would have completed it.”

“When 2012 happened and I won the Tour and the Olympics, I was thrust into a world that was new to me,” Wiggins said. “This fame thing, people were asking me to go into the jungle, do celebrity ice dancing, talk shows, that sort of thing.

“I started thinking about the end and what I was going to do and what the legacy would be. I decided pretty early on I wanted to have something that was longer lasting.

“Hopefully that will continue to grow and 10 years from now, it’ll be something that is a bit like the charities here are doing – giving people opportunities who perhaps wouldn’t get the opportunities normally.”